Bat House Forum

[Joe Spencer]

Picture REPOST by Joe spencer PHOTOS below content:

Hi Joe,

I'm pleased to report that three pole-mounted, "Rocket" style roosts were installed on the 4th March. The three poles are in-line with separations of 6 metres. The Poles are galvanized square cross-sections of 75mm x 75mm. The poles are painted black.

The roosts are dual cavity. They are raised-up so that the pole is short of the top by 350mm. The centre hollow (where the pole has been excluded from) is filled with dry sand. Then the top of the whole structure (above the roosting space) is sand-filled to a depth of 50mm. There is a metal cover over the wooden "roof" to exclude water from the structure.

Two of the outside walls have horizontal vent slots 250mm from the bottom of the panel and all four inner walls have 40mm transit holes spaced 100mm below the level of the vent slots.

The three roosts are different shades of grey, the darkest is near black, the lightest is whitish-grey and the third is somewhere in-between. The landing platform sections of the panels and the inside of the roosts are un-painted timber with horizontal scoring!

Apart from inspecting the roost poles for stability etc during strong winds soon after installation, I've made no effort to determine whether or not the roosts are occupied. I think it will take a little time so there's not much point at the moment!

It's early Autumn here so the few remaining weeks of sun-heat should evaporate off the smells of freshly cut wood and glue solvents. Hopefully between now and the end of Winter (end of August) the bats will have time to discover and inspect the roosts and then start making use of them in early Spring. Thats when I'll start monitoring them after dusk, both visually and with bat detectors.

I'll let you know how things progress. Hopefully in the meantime, I'll be contibuting to the forum on other issues of interest.

Regards, Len









Len

[Joe Spencer]

Len if you would be so kind to let us know the location of these bat houses Australia? Southern Hemisphere somewhere? and I am curious how far the bat house poles are from the LIGHT poles... Nice Job!

[Guest]

Hi Joe,

thanks for sorting out the posting and the photos.

These bat roosts are located in the state of Victoria in the SE corner of mainland Australia (Southern hemisphere). They are at a latitude of approximately 38 degrees South and longitude 145 degrees East near the city of Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula that separates the two bays called Port Phillip and Western Port.

The central roost is located 8.5 metres directly behind the light pole that you can see in the RHS of the picture. The roosts are higher than the lamps which only cast light downwards due to the shroud that encloses the light source. The lamp's pole also provides a small degree of additional shading.

The orientation of a line drawn between the roost poles is east -west, the left of the picture is towards the east.

There are several young trees and bushes in the newly-planted reserve that had to be taken into account when positioning the poles to ensure there will be a few metres of clearance around each roost when the trees and bushes are fully grown.

Thanks for the interest.
Regards,
Len